My dad's dealing with chemo for leukemia right now (doing REALLY well though- blood counts up already- yeay!) but he's still not allowed any fresh flowers (or veggies or "unpeeled" fruit or... anything really!) and that made me super sad!

I haven't done anything with clay since pottery in high school, lol, but I happened past the Sculpey aisle at my favorite local craft shop and inspiration hit! (I'd originally tried making paper flowers, but I sucked SO bad at them! They turned out TERRIBLE lol)

I know these aren't the best ever, but my boyfriend and I spent a ridiculous amount of time on these so I wanted to share

The rectangle base, picket fence, little flower pots and "stems" are all acrylic painted wood, and we filled the pots with little pebbles (left overs that didn't fit into our fishbowl)

Super new to embroidery so I've used the most simple stitches, but I really like how this turned out! My SO's sister doesn't have a huge budget for fancy-pants baby clothes, and I wanted to make miss Haylee something special for the holidays. Considered gifting it for Christmas, but she's a chunky little 3 month old and I fear that it won't fit her by then! ha

I got this dress at the big bad W-M for a whopping $15, and it's become my favorite project I've done lately

Here's the detail around the neckline:

And my favorite, behind the little satin part in the center:

The best part is that it has a soft lining so none of the stitches will come close to Haylee's skin, so I didn't have to figure out that interfacing stuff- woohoo!

Let me know what you think, I really liked this project and plan on doing more, so any tips/ pointers would be hugely appreciated! Thanks!

Sooo.... I was so inspired by the BEAUTIFUL things you all have posted here, that I decided I had to try embroidery! Off to Michael's I went, and a couple days of practicing later here are the "finished" pieces I have!

Here's a little baby t I would have gifted to a really awesome lady I know (or rather her son) but I didn't find out about the stabilizer stuff until researching why this looks funny... oops!

And a little Christmas tree, of course I didn't bother to draw anything out first, that would be too easy! (I'm an idiot, lol) My step-mom would be a major fan of Christmas-themed hand towels (as long as I practice more)

Advice, etc would be HUGELY appreciated, if any of you wouldn't mind? (thank you thank you thank you, I'm in need of help over here!)

So I bought this house last fall, and since it was a foreclosure (and super nasty) we (SO and I) had to redo EVERY room in the house! (He wasn't much help with the planning, lol....) Plus, since EVERY room had to be touched we had a SUPER skinny budget.

I desperately wanted to get new kitchen cabinets and counter, but it just won't happen for a few years.

So what we did was: paint the walls, paint the cabinets inside and out, new appliances, new faucet, new cabinet hardware, new vinyl tile floor (looks like stone-ish), removed a couple cab. doors for open storage, used ceramic paint to go over really ugly granny-flowered tiles in the backsplash, etc etc etc. It was super fun, but a LOT of work, and I really didn't spend much $$!

The dining room has a brown chair rail (same color as cab. frames) with rust on the bottom (same as cab. doors, but many shades darker) and the wheat color- seen around kit. window- on top. (Kit. and DR are connected)

I've learned to knit (extremely recently) thanks to internet tutorials (yeay) and have the standard knit and purl stitches down... and stockinette...

Ok, but beyond that??!! Oh man, I'm lost!! I just tried a cable pattern that sounded REALLY easy, but the stockinette "pattern" or whatever was on one side, and the cables ended up on the other.... I'm sure some of you must be giggling at me, but what did I do wrong? I did it over and over and over, and I just can't figure it out.

Oh I just don't get it, I'm thisclose to stomping my foot and throwing a tantrum

Also, the fantastic "beginners, read this first" post on here was EXCELLENT, except I still don't get / can't find an explanation to some things- where might I go (or what book should I purchase) to find out more about these wonderful knitting heiroglyphics?

HELP!! (pretty please?) I'm seriously feeling like I should sell my Versa and buy a wee little school bus.......